A First Book of Animals

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Montgomery, James (2013). Al-Jāḥiẓ: In Praise of Books. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748683321. Kitāb al-Ḥayawān is an extensive compendium in seven volumes [n 14] consisting of anecdotes, poetic descriptions and proverbs describing over 350 species of animals. [37] Composed in honour of Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik al-Zayyāt, who paid him five thousand gold coins (5., dīnār). [38] The 11th-century scholar al-Khatib al-Baghdadi dismissed it as "little more than a plagiarism" of Aristotle's Kitāb al-Hayawān–a charge of plagiarism was levelled against Aristotle himself with regard to a certain "Asclepiades of Pergamum". [39] Later scholars have noted that there was only a limited Aristotelian influence in al-Jāḥiẓ's work, and that al-Baghdadi may have been unacquainted with Aristotle's work. [40] There are two messages Gordon Grice wants to imply in his book. First, there are no such harmless animals. Even ordinary or domesticated animals are unpredictable; they can pose danger to us. Second, since animals are not as intelligent as we are, they can be aggressive in humans only based on biological drives. However, they can learn so once we, humans, no longer draw the line. In other words, psychology works on them too. Abū Hiffān 'Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥarb al-Mihzamī was a secretary and poet who died in Baghdād in 871. Ismā’īl ibn Isḥāq ibn Ismā’īl ibn Ḥammād, al-Qāḍī (d. 895/896) a jurist of Baṣrah who became a judge at Baghdād.

There is a lot to cover here and obviously not every animal can be covered in detail so there is some disappointment when the animal you want to hear about is glossed over (I could have used way more birds and cephalopods.) Some sections are stronger than others and while I don't mind the insertion of Grice's personal experience there were a couple occasions where it felt unnecessary to the topic although I would say that the majority of his transitions are really good. Conway Zirkle, writing about the history of natural selection science in 1941, said that an excerpt from this work was the only relevant passage he had found from an Arabian scholar. He provided a quotation describing the struggle for existence, citing a Spanish translation of this work: The book begins with a chapter on wolves and their relatives. Do people still believe in the image of the Big Bad Wolf? Actually, "Man's Best Friend"--the dog--an animal I can't imagine NOT being in my life--is far more dangerous. There are an estimated 4.7 million dog bites each year in the United States alone. The book then covers bears, cats, and other carnivorids. There's a section on aquatic dangers and sharks come to mind first. But the seas are teeming with all kinds of dangers, box jellyfish being among the worst. Then there are the dangers posed by snakes, crocodilians, lizards, and birds. For al-Jahiz never lost sight of his readers, and developed a very personal and characteristic style, which blended anecdote, serious subjects and jokes, in an effort to hold their interest. He described his style himself, saying:

Deadly Kingdom is excellent, well-researched, well-written and full of interesting if frightening facts about animals. The author is not sentimental or sensational,he simply records facts and incidents where animals have maimed or killed people by various means and lets the reader draw his own conclusions. Since many of these animals live in Asia, Africa or other faraway places I did feel a small sense of relief--it is not likely I will encounter a tiger or gorilla on my way home. Other animals such as spiders are everywhere and the potential for danger exists. Hitti, Philip K (1970). History of The Arabs (10thed.). Hong Kong: MacMillan Education Ltd. p. 429. ISBN 0-333-09871-4. The Ambrosiana manuscript is textually very important. It is obviously copied by an educated scribe who has indicated the vowels - not normally written in Arabic - which allow the text to be more accurately understood than heretofore. This is doubly important as few manuscripts of the Book of Animals survive, and the Ambrosiana manuscript is among the earliest of those that do. Born about the year 776, some 14 years after the foundation of Baghdad by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur, al-Jahiz grew up in Basra, founded early in Islamic times as a garrison city, but now, along with its rival city, Kufa, a major intellectual center. During his long lifetime - he lived until he was 92 - al-Jahiz composed some 200 works, of varying length, on an extraordinary range of topics. Of these, only 30 or so survive today - enough nevertheless to show the omnivorous curiosity of the author. Al-Jahiz wrote Levity and Seriousness, The Art of Keeping One's Mouth Shut, Misers, Early Arab Food, In Praise of Merchants, Against Civil Servants, The Squaring of the Circle, The Merits of the Turks, and, perhaps the most important, the Book of Animals.

Kennedy, Hugh N. (2010) [2007]. "Al-Jahiz and the Construction of Homosexuality at the Abbasid Court". In Harper, April; Proctor, Caroline (eds.). Medieval Sexuality: A Casebook (Seconded.). London [u.a.]: Routledge. pp.175–188. doi: 10.4324/9780203935026. ISBN 978-1-135-86634-1. Jāḥiẓ (al-), Abū ‘Uthman ‘Amr ibn Bahr (1958). al-Ḥājirī, Ṭāhā (ed.). Kitāb al-Bukhalā' (in Arabic). Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif. Mr Gabbatiss said he is ‘actually quite proud’ of some of the later drawings, and added he may give the book to his parents who he thinks ‘will maybe appreciate it most’. Edgerton, Frank N. (2002). "A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 6: Arabic Language Science: Origins and Zoological Writings". Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 83 (2): 142–146. JSTOR 20168700. Basra contributed substantially to al-Jahiz's intellectual development. It was there that he first went to school – studying under some of the most eminent scholars of Islam. Even after he migrated to Baghdad -attracted by the greater scope of the capital. he never lost his affection for his home; after some 50 years in Baghdad, he returned to Basra, and it was there that he died. According to legend he was crushed to death by a collapsing pile of books in the year 868.In 2006, a visitor to the Kiev Zoo proclaimed, 'God will save me, if he exists,' and entered the lion enclosure, where a lioness instantly sliced his carotid artery. His works attest the remarkable spread of Greek ideas among ordinary readers. Both in his subject matter and vocabulary, he presumes a familiarity - albeit superficial - with Aristotle and the technical terminology of scholastic theology. He tells many anecdotes of the scholars of the House of Wisdom, many of whom appear to have been his friends.

Kennedy, Hugh (2006). When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306814808. The availability of a cheap writing material was accompanied by another social phenomenon, of which al-Jahiz himself was a product: the rise of a reading public. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, the cities of the Middle East contained a large number of literate people - many of humble origins.

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Mas’ūdī (al-), Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn (1864). Meynard (de), C. Barbier; Courteille (de), A. Pavet (eds.). Kitāb al-Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar (tr. Les Prairies d'or) (in Arabic and French). Vol.iii. Paris: Imprimerie impériale. p. 116. Readers learn about many of the creatures who can be dangerous to man, some you might never think of. There are the obvious ones like sharks, bears and other animals who are big and have sharp teeth. But the insects, oh my. The chapters are by types such as mammals, sea creatures, insects and primates. Primates are worst of all, especially the top primates, us. Zaman, Muhammad Qasim (1997). Religion and Politics Under the Early 'Abbasids: The Emergence of the Proto-Sunni Elite. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p.55. ISBN 978-9-00410-678-9. grice is quoting from another source, and i don't feel like being all proper in my citations but anyway so there is this guy who was bitten by a hyena, whose

A collection of stories about the greedy. Humorous and satirical, it is the best example of al-Jāḥiẓ' prose style. Al-Jāḥiẓ ridicules schoolmasters, beggars, singers and scribes for their greedy behavior. Many of the stories continue to be reprinted in magazines throughout the Arabic-speaking world. The book is considered one of the best works of al-Jāḥiẓ. [ citation needed] The book has two English translations: One by Robert Bertram Serjeant titled The Book of Misers, and another by Jim Colville titled Avarice and the Avaricious. Editions: Arabic (al-Ḥājirī, Cairo, 1958); [44] Arabic text, French preface. Le Livre des avares. (Pellat. Paris, 1951) [45] Kitāb al-Bayān wa-al-Tabyīn 'The Book of eloquence and demonstration' [ edit ] a b "Darwin's Ghosts, By Rebecca Stott". independent.co.uk. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012 . Retrieved 19 June 2012. Whoa! Finishing it is like making an exit from a vast zoo of the deadly animals.I could not help it. Gordon Grice took me on a tour of the different animal kingdoms. Passing each ghastly kingdom awoke me to the reality more that living on this earth is not ideally safe after all. Everyone could be a victim of brutal predation. In fact, I got giddier and more terrified when I came upon the kingdom of nematodes. God forbid! How terrible the world is! No matter how hygienic we try to be, we can be susceptible to invisible living organisms. My books contain above all unusual anecdotes, wise and beautifully expressed sayings handed down by the Companions of the Prophet, sayings which will lead to the acquisition of good qualities and the performance of good works ... they also contain stories of the conduct of kings and caliphs and their ministers and courtiers, and the most interesting events of their lives.

Reviews

but horrifying, horrifying stuff. if you have any eye-sensitivity, do not read this book. the number of things that want to go for your eyes, or lay eggs in your eyes so they pop with new life... eeerrrggghhhh. I had really never shown it to anyone apart from my parents, who saw me drawing it growing up as a child,’ he said. Dodge notes that al-Jāḥiẓ’s praise for the ‘Abbāsid lineage, and promotion of their ancestors, the Banū Hāshim, over the ‘Abd Shams, ancestors of the Umayyads, and the Banū Makhzūm, is evidentially political expedience.